Richard O. Covey

Became an Eagle Scout: 1960Became a Distinguished Eagle Scout: 2005Lives in: Colorado Springs, ColoradoOccupation: Vice president of Support Operations for Boeing Homeland Security and ServicesFamily: Wife Kathy, two grown daughters, and a granddaughter

When the folks at NASA need a problem solver, they know just who to call:
Col. Richard O. Covey. In 1988, Covey piloted space shuttle Discovery on the
first shuttle mission since the 1986 Challenger disaster. Five years later,
he commanded shuttle flight STS-61 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, a
mission still regarded as one of the shuttle program's most complex. In 2003,
Covey was named cochair (along with former Boy Scout and astronaut Thomas
Stafford) of the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group, charged with
assessing NASA's implementation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's
safety recommendations.

The retired astronaut is typically self-effacing about his problem-solving
abilities. "There is always room for volunteers in difficult situations," he
noted dryly. Covey is just as self-effacing about receiving the Distinguished
Eagle Scout Award at the BSA National Annual Meeting in May. "This is an honor
that I never expected and am not sure I deserve," he said. "It is a wonderful
recognition that I will try my best to be worthy of."

Read Covey's resume, however, and you quickly realize just how worthy he is.
After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy and Purdue University, Covey
served in southeast Asia, where he flew 339 combat missions. He logged 5,700
hours as a high-performance aircraft pilot, flew on four shuttle missions,
and received five Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Defense Distinguished
Service Medals, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. For the past 10
years, he has worked in the aerospace industry, where he currently serves
as vice president of support operations for Boeing Homeland Security and
Services.

Covey's life and career have been powered by jet fuel -- and by lessons
learned in Scouting. "It was a big part of our lives, particularly for those
of us who were military family dependents living on base," he said. That base
was Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where his father, Charles D. Covey, was
stationed. The younger Covey participated in both Boy Scouting and Exploring
on the base, earning his Eagle Scout badge in 1960.

"Growing up in rural northwest Florida allowed a lot of time for young men
to participate in Scouting," Covey said. "Federal land, known as the Eglin
Reservation, was freely available for camping and other Scouting activities,
and we lived in the middle of it."

The activities were fun, he said, but the values were fundamental.

"The underlying base provided by the principles of the Scout Oath and Scout
Law has served me well all my life," Covey said. "My father was an Eagle Scout,
and I learned these principles at home as well as from other Scout leaders."

Among the most important of those principles was the concept of citizenship.
Covey said, "I have always drawn on the fundamentals of citizenship that I
learned as a Scout. Duty to God and country, respect for authority, treating
people fairly, taking care of one's self -- all fit into modern
leadership."

The other key principle was the idea of doing one's best. "To me, the most
important words of the Scout Oath are 'I will do my best,'" he said. "They apply
to everything I do and have done: being a student, a fighter pilot, a test
pilot, an astronaut, and a business executive -- and more importantly, in
being a loving and supportive husband and father."

In that last role, Covey had a good example to follow. "My father is my
personal 'distinguished Eagle Scout,'" he said. "He influenced many young men's
lives as a Scout leader, including mine. He would be very proud!"

Covey and his wife, Kathy, have been married for 33 years and have two grown
daughters and one granddaughter. Living in a household of women meant that Covey
never had much opportunity to participate in Scouting as an adult, something he
called "one of my deepest regrets." Still, there is no doubt that he has passed
on the values he learned in Scouting to another generation.